365
by cornelialover
Summary: It was their day. Their anniversary. And there was no they anymore. Post 4x22, Waige first dating anniversary. One-shot.


**I've been working on this since Monday. I am totally mad and sad and frustrated with the show, so I wanted to join the therapy. I wish I could solve things in just one chapter but jeeeez, this is so hard! The writers had put us in a very bad position. Well, I hate that everyone keeps hating Paige. Yeah, she indeed was rude, but I could totally understand her frustration. Doesn't mean she should have said some mean stuff, but still, she isn't the only one who screwed up. For me, Walter was as wrong as her. But now, all we can do is hook up on fanfics and wait. So here it goes!**

 **XX**

Walter is good with numbers. This is a fact no one can deny. He was capable to tell exactly the amount of days since the last time he saw Collins. Or the amount of days since he met Sly and the others. He could easily state that it has been 895 days since Megan died. And that Scorpion started precisely 2815 days ago. Due so, it was impossible for him to miss the day which his relationship with Paige would be completing 365 days.

Walter sighed, not motivated at all to leave his bed. Her perfume was still flourishing from her pillow. In a way, he was back to his old and boring life of a year ago. Everything that happened in this meantime seemed so... unreal to him. It felt like he'd just woken up from a good dream. At some point, Walter even questioned himself if Paige has really ever been his girlfriend. But then, he stumbled into her products still occupying his bathroom, causing reality to reach him over.

In fact, he had no clue of what he was supposed to do with all of that. He wasn't sure if she was ever coming back to take it. Deep down, he didn't want her to. As much as the memories hurt him, they still were useful to remind himself of all the beauty of their intimacy and relationship.

Paige, on the other hand, was already up on her feet. Actually, she hadn't slept a wink the night before, and as soon as the sun showed up she decided to take a walk with her son in attempt of getting some distraction. This was meant to be their day. But instead, it has been five weeks since she and Walter were no long a couple.

They had seen each other sometimes. The cases, the teams, the competition... and in the same way all of this mess made her feel nauseas, it was the only way she found to still be in touch with him. She wanted to know how he was doing, if he was okay, if he was needing something. Even though she will never admit it out loud.

"Mom." Ralph called, slightly behind her on the sidewalk.

"Hey." She turned to face him. Ralph was tired of trying to catch up with her rhythm of walking.

"You are going too fast. I have short legs." The kid made a face. His mother smiled sadly.

"Right, sorry, my head is in the clouds." Paige shook her face. "Do you wanna eat something? What about ice cream?"

"But it's 9 a.m." Ralph frowned.

"So what?" The ex-waitress shrugged and started to run forward an ice cream cart on the other side of the street.

Ralph didn't complain anymore of getting sugar at this time of the day. Despite all of her weird actions lately, he knew she was having a hard time. He was too. He'd never thought it would be so hard to turn back to their 2-people family circle. And no matter how terrible he was feeling, there was nothing he could do about it. He tried to be mad with Paige. He tried to be mad with Walter. But in the end of the day... both of them were just as hurt as him.

Now, he and his mother were sitting on the square, quietly staring to the sad sky.

"Look, mom, it's morning but we can still see some stars and the moon. I love that. We could go to the planetary some day of those." Ralph tried to break down the silence. Paige took a few seconds to answer.

"You know, planetariums display a bunch of constellations together, but you shouldn't believe in all of them." The woman stated, and the boy seemed to don't get her point. So, she continued. "Did you know our eyes have a blind spot? It's like a hole where there is no light caption due to a nerve. In theory, we should see a black spot somewhere in our vision. But instead, our brains try to compensate it by creating an image to this missing view, based on what we're seeing around. It's like there is something you see that is just an... illusion. So who can guarantee some stars in a planetary view are real?" she argued.

Ralph was beginning to get worried. Was he truly listening something like that coming out from her mouth? "Whoa. You are sounding just as someone I know." The boy raised his eyebrows. "Where did you get that?" He glanced at her.

"Well, Walter told me." Paige sighed. "He used to tell me a bunch of curious things."

It wasn't easy for her to confess she was missing it. The lectures, the lessons, the curiosities... She never knew what to expect when they were going to do something together, cause Walter had always surprised her. And, even though sometimes she indeed got lost in whatever he was babbling about, she still loved to hear his lovely voice of when he was in the middle of some reasoning. Truth be told, she regret telling him otherwise during that fight in front of the whole team. She let her pain to take control and now... they were simply so far apart.

God, she needed to see him today. She couldn't make it any other way. She had been preparing herself for this day for almost two months. She had intent to have an amazing afternoon with her man, with a romantic night in the end. She had planned his present. She was happy it would be the first anniversary with the man she'd dreamed about for her entire life. And now, she wishes she could undo whatever happened in that freaking evening, run onto his arms and tell him it has been the best year of her life, but she just couldn't. There was no way she could repair what she had said. Now, Paige had the damn autograph for nothing. It was their day. Their anniversary. And there was no they anymore.

When walking back home, a hundred times even more distracted than before, she had an idea. For the first time since the split up, she wasn't capable of containing her need to see him. She prepared an excuse and made her call. She will definitely go see him today.

XX

"Walt. What the hell are you doi..." Cabe trailed off when he got to see the mess Walter's room was drowning into. "What's all of this?"

"Oh. Hey, Cabe. I am just looking for… something." The genius seemed disturbed, but Cabe had zero skills for managing to read his mind.

"Something special?" He tried the luck. Walter then stopped to dig through his mess, his eyes yearning for crying.

"It's nothing. It's just… stupid." Walter nodded, now turning nervous. "Don't even know why I'm doing it." the youngest threw himself back on the bed, hiding his face with a hand.

"Is this has something to do with Paige?" Cabe made a hunch.

"Of course. Who else is able to drive me so freaking nuts?" he caught her pillow and threw it away, in order to express his anger. After taking two or three deep breaths, Walter continued. "Today… it would be our first anniversary. I was wondering I could send her a message, but it would sound ridiculous. So I decided to find a tape with a song I made for her and send it to her apartment. But… it's stupid. She dumped me. She doesn't want me."

"Slow down, son." Cabe sighed, approaching the bed. "When I was coming in, downstairs, Paige's car was arriving here. She stepped off the car and asked me to call you, cause she needed to get in the garage to take back some stuff."

"Wait… she is here?" Walter stood up quickly, not knowing exactly this should be a good or bad thing.

"Yeah, downstairs. Maybe you wanna go there to talk to her?" Cabe offered, watching his son shaking his head.

"Do you think I should?" Walter was clearly confused.

"Just act normal, if there isn't anything different happening today. If she wants to bring up the subject, she will." Cabe advised.

So, in the instant later, Walter has heading down the stairs, scared as hell about how this may turns out.

"Ahm. Hello." Walter stared at the woman's silhouette when his body startled due to her presence in the garage. It was the first time she was there since... that night.

"Hey, Walter." Paige already engaged herself on explaining her sudden appearance. "Ahm.. how.. how are you doing?" she was nervous.

"Fine." He was direct and chippy. "Did you come for announce some other case stealing from my company?" He didn't bother looking at her eyes.

Paige sighed, perhaps coming in was not a good idea. "No. I just came to... catch my stuff back. At least some of them." She introduced her excuse.

"Right, make yourself comfortable." Walter directed himself to his desk, trying to ignore her existence in the room. He didn't wanna seem weak. He needed her to believe he was okay.

This was frustrating for her, though. In a day, she and Walter were kissing and mumbling sweet things to each other under a freaking blanket and in the day next they just hated each other? This wasn't right at all.

"You know, I understand you're mad, but please don't start with this. Not in the mood." She stepped closer to her old desk, glad there was nothing belonging to Florence in there.

"You already started all of this." He shrugged, still no eye contact.

Paige's softness turned now to indignation. "Well, as far as I'm informed, I didn't hide a secret about another man for months."

"Not referring to this." Walter sighed. She clearly didn't get it.

"Are you referring to what so?" She exhaled.

Walter waited a few seconds so speak. In a way, he wasn't thrilled to open his heart to her again. "To that night, long time ago, when you said you could never get bored of me. I trusted on it. And suddenly I don't satisfy you anymore and we're at this position now."

Well, Paige really hasn't predicted this. She felt terrible about his comment, and something inside her urged to fix whatever she had broken inside him. The woman took a few seconds to formulate an appropriate answer.

"Walter," she began, holding some books in her arms. "I'm not sure we're ready for this talk yet. But I truly don't want you to think I wasn't being honest that night in the restaurant. I know I said otherwise to you on the fight, but believe it or not, I was just trying to convince myself we were not supposed to work anyway. It seemed spooky a reality where you were the one for me, but I wasn't the one for you. I freaked out. So I said all of that. In my stupid mind, it would make it hurt less. I was wrong. I'm sorry I hurt you." She spit it out in just a single breathe, and without him noticing, she left a paper on the desk. The autograph. She wouldn't tell him she came to give him a present. At some point, hopefully, he would find the paper.

Walter's hands were suddenly trembling. "Paige, you never gave me the chance to speak. In front of everyone. You humiliated me."

"I know." The ex-waitress felt her eyes stinging. Shit, no matter what have happened, she hated to see him like that. "You don't deserve me. It was never my intention, you are an amazing man. I am a moron, I'm already aware. I just came to... grab my stuff back. That's it." She gathered all of her folders and notebooks, and threw it all in her purse. After it, she hurried to leave the garage.

"But you felt humiliated too, don't you?" He let it scape from his mouth, before she could open the door to go. Paige cut her walking and hesitated to turn around. When she did, though, his eyes were meeting hers for the first time. "When I made it seems like you weren't enough for me by hanging out with Florence instead of you." He completed his question.

Paige let out a breath, she didn't feel she could manage to talk about herself right now.

"Yes." She shook her head. "Yes I felt."

Walter took a deep breath, encouraging himself. It was his opportunity. He couldn't allow it passing. "So... Can I have my turn to speak now?"

Paige slowly stepped closer, agreeing with her head without saying a word.

"Well, I'm sorry. For all the 'cranial affair' with Florence. I never meant to hurt you either or make you feel you weren't the one. Cause you were. Still are. I didn't lie about you being the love of my life. Florence, or anyone, is not capable to calm my mind, to rest my thoughts, to bring me the feeling that love truly exists, to be my safe place, to teach me I'm not just a brain, to show me I can be a real human, with true feelings and fears, with beauty and flaws, to open my mind to some huge different experiences, to stimulate every single part of my body, heart and even brain... no one, except you. That's why I was terrified to tell you about the lecture because I couldn't risk losing the most good thing that ever happened to me. I thought I could hide it forever in order to save us, but I should have known better it isn't how things work. I should've considered your insecurities. So I failed you. And I apologize." Walter struggled to keep his serenity and posture, as if he couldn't ever be surer of something in the world.

Paige, unlikely, was restless. Her eager made her leave the purse on the couch and walk in circles, visibly having trouble to process all of it. Their day. It was supposed to be their day.

There were a bunch of things she wanted to say, beginning from 'you just needed to open up with me before it became a huge snow ball' until 'you are my safe place too.' But instead...

"Sorry I failed you too." was all she managed to speak. She scratched her own arms, trying to formulate some other words while Walter kept his calm face. Damn, why did she feel she was about to fall apart and he, on the opposite, was being so peaceful? "I mean, I was the person supposed to understand and help you to process your EQ difficulties. This was clearly one of those. Your dilemma... risking losing me... I-I should have helped you to handle it better. But I didn't." she finished, catching some air.

"We both failed each other. I guess... it's something we can't fix." Walter sat on his desk, glancing down.

"Perhaps not." Paige took a deep breath. Then, more silence. They had no idea what else they were supposed to say.

"What if we ever want to?" His voice raised a bit, almost determined. Paige's stomach rolled inside.

"I guess it would always be a scar." She acknowledged with some sadness. Walter nodded and let out a no fun laugh.

"Potential pitfalls." He remembered. He has said that to her once. Far away, in the small beginning of their relationship.

"We had no idea..." she raised her eyebrows. Walter didn't answer anymore.

Now that she had stopped walking, she decided it was time to go. There's nothing else to say, plus her heart was way more broken than before. All Paige wanted at this time was burying herself on her bed and just stay there for a while.

"You know, scars can also mean strength." Walter pointed, after he saw her intentions to leave.

"Walt, please, don't do this..." Paige saw where he was intending to get, and she was not confident on her ability of reluctating.

"Do what?"

"Insinuating... using that voice to convince me up. Don't know I'm strong enough to fight against it."

Walter sighed. "Okay. But I need you to know that what I told you today... is not gonna change. Ever."

Paige grunted and suddenly surrendered.

"Okay that's enough. I can't deal with this." The ex-waitress exclaimed and in the same second she was already on his arms, inside that single warm hug capable of shut down all the disturb she was having.

"So you don't hate me?" The genius was baffled for the unexpected change of scenario, but was still hugging her.

"Never did." she muttered.

"I miss you here." His body got anxious by confessing it.

"Yeah, me too." She moved back, leaving his arms. Paige's eyes were lost, she was scared.

"Hum... Does it mean we'll try?" There was a hint of hope in his expression.

"It means I acknowledge we've got through so many rough times before, and we could give us another chance. But let's don't define anything right now. You know, baby steps. We are both too fragile lately to do otherwise." she bit her bottom lip. Sort of impulsively, then, the woman got on the tip of her feet to kiss his cheek. Walter exhaled.

"Well, in this case..." he ran his hand through his head, shyly. "Uhm, happy anniversary."

After hearing it, Paige genuinely smiled for the first time. He remembered about their day. It was special to him too.

So, feeling a bit better than before, she finally grabbed her purse back and made her way to the door.

"Happy anniversary, Walter." Paige stated, and then left.

 **XX**

 **Yeyyyy, hope you enjoyed. I really wish the show to bring something about their anniversary. I actually wrote a fluff about this subject even before the finale aired. If you want me to post it, just ask and I will.**

 **Well, fingers crossed, right? We are getting a season five, I know it!**

 **Review it, pleeeease, and bye**


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